A daily journal concerning Lake Vermilion and surrounding areas
Selected real estate, notes, stories, musings, and anecdotes
------------ Comments and links welcomed ------------
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Good Values.
Here are a couple of properties I have selected from our inventory that, in my opinion, are currently an attractive value. Please contact me if you would like to visit any of these listings.
Pike Bay Lodge is an incredible and historic Lake Vermilion property. It is a unique and impressive offering with great potential. The owners would like to sell ASAP! All offers will be considered. It is absolutely worth a look.
The only piece missing from the future potential of this beautiful parcel is someone to develop the property. 53+ acres near the City of Tower, Lake Vermilion, and the Tower Airport. The asking price is $175,000 but all offers will be considered.
As this tutorial notes, trying to figure out where you are and where you are going is one of man's oldest pastimes. But thanks to the U.S. Department of Defense and the advent of the Global Positioning System, all of us have access to advanced tools for navigation and positioning.
These tools are available from sophisticated to simple versions with various degrees of accuracy.
For general real estate work, an inexpensive GPS receiver can be very useful to approximately locate the boundaries of a remote parcel. If you would like additional information, please contact me.
In a related story, this ambitious project will send GPS users to all corners of the world.
Although the weekend rain reduced the remaining snow pack, it's going to be a while before any outside projects can be started. I did, however, get some time to do a little Spring cleaning in the garage over the weekend. There is a certain satisfaction in putting stuff back in it's place, throwing junk out, and cleaning things up.
Over the Winter, I also accumulated some items of questionable value here at the webpage.
Here are a few properties I have selected from our inventory that, in my opinion, are currently an attractive value. Please contact me if you would like to visit any of these listings.
This Lake Vermilion/Wolf Bay cabin is on a large 5 acre lot. It is also adjacent to thousands of acres of the Superior National Forest. What a great fishing and hunting camp! $169,500
This Lake Vermilion island has a cozy bunk cabin and the seller is very motivated. The asking price has been reduced $50,000! $159,900
This very nice road access Lake Vermilion building lot now includes an additional 25' of frontage without a price increase. It is now offered at $1000 per front foot in a market that has seen prices up to $2500 per front foot! $199,000
This west-end year round Lake Vermilion home is worth a second look. It has a very large lot with 400+ feet of shoreline and 8+ acres. Also included is a nice garage with woodworking shop and wet boathouse. $559,000.
With a forecast of possible thunderstorms in the next couple of days, it may be the beginning of the end for the Lake Vermilion ice cap.
The combination of measurable rain and a remaining +/- 18" snow depth could positively impact the lake water level. A generous run-off this Spring could see the lake level return to a height near it's historic normal range.
For those that appreciate astronomical phenomena... a rare combination of heavenly bodies will be visible to the naked eye later this month. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter will in the evening sky just after dusk.
The next chance to view this combination will be in 32 years.
Go to Space.com to learn how and where to view our celestial neighbors.
OK, that's it. I admit it. I do not particularly care for the Month of March. And I know I'm not alone. We should organize.
And is it a coincidence that March and potholes occur at the same time? How appropriate... March, the Pothole Month. Potholes are the perfect symbol for the Month of March.
If there is any consolation in this phenomena it's that we do not suffer alone. Potholes plague the Earth. No one anywhere is unaffected. The evidence is in the orchestrated efforts to locate and eradicate the potholes. A quick search of the phrase "pothole reporting" returns 348 websites dedicated to this activity. (This, arguably, may be one of the most socially beneficial uses of the internet.) This partial list confirms the widespread scope of the crisis: St. Paul, Minnesota / San Diego, California / Houston, Texas / International Falls, Minnesota / Louisville, Kentucky / Los Angeles, California... and on and on and on.
We know where they come from. We know how to fix them. But it's March. And March means potholes.
Possibly the novelist Pearl S. Buck said it best... "To swerve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and an whole heart and a free mind."
Late Winter can be a good time to find a good buy on a snowmobile. If you really like to fly over the snow, you might want to make an offer on this "sled".
Or more specifically... "Yes, there's still ice out on the lake."
It's typically mid-March when I start thinking of a lake without ice. The warm days of the previous week had scattered areas of slush and water forming on the lake. But the last couple nights of sub-zero temperatures have put us back to square one. It's best to convert all the wishing to planning and prepare for warmer days ahead. I've got an outboard to pick up at the repair shop... I need to price out a replacement dock... I've got a old brush pile to get rid of... I've got a sauna to finish... and there's only 64 days until the Fishing Opener. Plus I hope to help a bunch of folks buy and sell some real estate!
Here we go again. The average 30 year mortgage interest rate has fallen dramatically this week. It is now 5.44%. That's the lowest the rate has been since last June.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has far ranging and numerous goals. They recently published a report on their progress. It contains some interesting stuff.
I took the time this past Winter to take advantage of some additional education. After completing the training and passing the State-required exams, I am pleased to report I am now an Associate Broker!
It can be interesting to view your business through the eyes of someone doing the same thing in another place... such as Bulgaria. This beautiful country on the Black Sea is struggling to become a political democracy with a market economy. But apparently their real estate market is active with new buyers from western Europe looking for property bargains.
It's time for a check on the near term mortgage financing rates. The folks that keep an eye on finance trends are not, as of this week, expecting any significant movement in mortgage rates. In a word, that equates to "sideways". But they seem to think it is likely for rates to inch up in the coming weeks. Mortgage money finance rates remain at historically low levels.
The fishery of Lake Vermilion has a broad mix of fish species. The ever popular Minnesota DNR web page on the Lake Vermilion fish population is a testimony to that. And when we angle in the waters of Lake Vermilion we certainly do not anticipate any surprises when we reach into our landing net, grasp our catch, and proudly display the prize for the cameras lens.
That predictable scenario does not apply on all the waters of our fine planet.
Our Brown Bullhead and White Sucker look like Aniston and Pitt when you stack them up against some of the sea creatures found by the Australian National Oceans Office. Why just the names of some of these animals are enough to keep you out of the water. Consider the Fangtooth, the Umbrella Mouth Gulper Eel, the Lizardfish, and the Blob. Compare those names to those of our familiar finned friends called the Walleye, the Perch, and the Bass.
I guess I'm content with the the local fish choices and their names.
It's not too tough to convince the Missus that you're going to "boat a stringer of Walleyes" for dinner. I'll bet it might be tougher to sell her on a "stringer of Fangtooths".
The Minnesota 2004 Fishing Licenses are on sale now. (Don't forget your Social Security Number.)
Most Recent
Buyers!
GPS.
9.9 acre 
Spring Cleaning.
A Weather Note.
Bottoming Out.
"Ice Out!"
Only a Mother Could Love.
